Friday, 8 May 2015

An Egg Hunt - Thoughts Please

Thank you for all of you who got in touch following my last post, especially Jonathan, who has provided material support.

Following on from your suggestions, I'm going to try my hand at some solo games to see how I get on. I'm going to try a Pulp Action dino hunt set-up. The plot may be familiar, but so what!

This is a solo scenario, but I'm hoping it would also work with a second player who would take either a rival expedition team or a lost tribe/simians/lizard men/hippies wanting to protect the Thunder Beasts.

Hopefully, I'll play-test this week-end and report back. In the meantime, I'd really appreciate any comments one what is a first draft put together in an hour or so.

Background

After years of ridicule from the academic establishment Prof Endeavour has put together an expedition to find evidence of his theory that animals previously thought extinct may have survived in unexplored regions.

After many hardships, the Endeavour Expedition has finally reached the Hidden Valley...

Objective

Set out from the start point, collect one or more eggs and return with them to the start point.

Set-Up

Rules are Pulp Action

•League of 5 explorers (including one animal)
•Dinosaurs - one per nest (plus one generated at a random nest at the beginning of each turn?)
•Six nests

3x3 table. Various terrain (and perilous areas) placed. The explorers start at one corner of the table. The nests are placed within 8in of the opposite edge, not closer than 8in to each other. One dino is placed at each of five of the nests.

Mechanisms

Dinos

Dinos move in a random direction determined by roll of a d8 unless

•A hatchling is in play. ALL dinos move towards the hatchling
•An egg-carrier is within 18ins – the dino moves towards the egg-carrier (unless the above)
•A character is within 12ins – the dino moves toward him (unless the above)

If a dino wins combat with an egg-carrier, the egg or hatchling is removed from play.

Nests, Eggs and Hatchlings

On making contact with a nest, the character takes a peril test. If he passes he rolls to see if the nest contains eggs (50% chance of success). Only three of the nests contain eggs: only one egg may be removed from any nest. In the next turn the character can take a test to see if he can remove the egg.
On each activation, any character carrying an egg rolls a d6 for each egg carried: if a 6 is rolled, that egg hatches (only one egg hatches per game).

A character can carry any number of eggs: eggs and hatchlings can be passed between characters on making base-to-base contact and passing a peril test. Characters carrying eggs or hatchlings cannot run.

Scoring

•10pts for each human explorer returned to Civilization (40pt)
•50pts for each egg returned to Civilisation (150pt)
•150pts for each hatchling returned to Civilization

Everything reads like it should make an interesting game. I found in the past that I had to replay scenarios and add or omit mechanics to suit. One possibility is for the dinosaurs to interact with each other? A parent protecting their nest from another, should it move too close. Or a wandering predatory dinosaur, that will attack the humans or the nests/eggs should its movement bring it close enough - this would give another risk factor to reaching the eggs before it, if needed.

Random chance cards that are drawn when a playing character enters into such a feature.

The majority of the cards would be blank, but some would feature such things as a wasps nest (that would either perform a low level attack or mean that the figures weren't able to use the terrain), another could be excellent cover (where the figures are completely hid and no dinosaur would be able to spot and therefor attack them) - useful if running away, hoping for this card. Marshy ground, making the going twice as hard than normal - walking counts as running etc. Possibly, the chance to find something that would allow the chance to earn victory points at the end - you find what you think is a new species of insect, roll on a D6 table at the end (should you keep the insect, though doing so means you can't carry an egg etc) and the results would vary from useless to rather quite fortunate and so allowing the chance to snatch victory from defeat.

In Pulp Alley characters can't run while in 'perilous areas', They also have to pass a test on entering the area or on activation within the area. These are determined by drawing a card. Because the nature of PA encourages fluff, this could quite easily be written up as 'giant wasps nest' or 'man eating plant.